Your Maternity Health Insurance Choices
Are you pregnant? Or are you a couple who would like to have a baby
? While health care issues have been on TV a lot lately, I have not seen that much about the special needs of pregnant women. It can cost thousands of dollars to have a normal baby, and some pregnancies can cost a lot more. Look for some ways to plan to have a healthy maternity.Of course, everybody's first answer is to have group health insurance that covers maternity. Most group plans, provided by employers, do cover maternity. If a couple is lucky enough to have a good group medical plan, they should not have that many out of pocket costs to worry about.
But millions of Americans lack group health. Self employed people, contract workers, unemployed people, and people who work for an employer who does not offer group health are some obvious examples of people without group health.
Many of these people do buy individual health insurance on their own. This is fine for normal medical coverage, but it may not cover maternity. While major medical should cover any complications of pregnancy, it may not cover normal doctor visits, tests, and the delivery.
Some plans may have a pregnancy rider (option) that can be selected. This must be selected before a woman is pregnant, and it does have an extra cost. This will not eliminate out of pocket costs though. The deductible is usually fairly high too, but at least, it will protect the family against very high costs.
For people with some savings, but without maternity insurance, a pre-paid plan may help. Some doctors or hospitals offer these plans so the costs of maternity health care can be planned for.
CHIPS, the children's health insurance program for moderate to low income families, has been expanded to cover maternity and delivery. CHIPs is the federal health insurance program for children from lower income families, and it has been expanded to cover women who are pregnant. If you want to know more about this, search online for your state office.
For families who are very poor, with little income or assets, Medicaid may also provide help. Medicaid is the federal health program for very poor people who do not have many assets.
You could also look for low cost clinics or county health systems in your area. Foundations also exist that have aid programs too.
The Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPARX.org) has a lot of handy resources to find local help in your own city or town. It may take some work to find the right solution, but help is out there.
Some people may feel too proud to seek outside help. The right thing to think about now is how to have a healthy maternity so the baby will have every chance. The woman's health, and the baby's health, are the important things to consider. That will help everybody get back on track in the future, and it will do more good in the long run.
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